Three reasons Tommy Rees leaving Notre Dame isn’t too concerning

It has happened. Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees is leaving Notre Dame for greener grass at Alabama. It seems like what Nick Saban wants, Nick Saban gets.

Even though Marcus Freeman is losing his play-calling leader on offense, there shouldn’t be too many concerns over Rees leaving. Obviously, Rees rubbed some people the wrong way, me included, with his public tirades during games.

Rees did some good things as well. Even though he struggled to figure out how to utilize his offense this year, eventually he figured it out and found success.

Freeman is now tasked with finding a replacement, but here are a few reasons I’m not too concerned with Rees moving on.

Quarterback recruiting

Why it matters

During the Rees era of quarterback recruiting, he wasn’t able to pull in the big name. Yes, Ian Book was great, but he was flawed. Phil Jurkovec never panned out and left shortly after he arrived. We have seen what Drew Pyne and Tyler Buchner are. The only argument anyone could make would be CJ Carr, but he is freshly committed and has not yet signed. There was a lot left to be desired here, and a fresh face could very well see improvement in this area.

Faith in Freeman to find a quality replacement

Why it matters

This is Freeman’s first big offseason, at least it’s turning out to be. We haven’t seen him make a move like he will have to now. He built his initial staff but as we all know with college football, changes like this are completely normal. I have a lot of faith that Freeman will attract a solid replacement for Rees, maybe even one that will have more success.  No postulating from me as to who it could be (you can read Nick Shepkowski’s thoughts on that here), but Rees knew what he had coming into this season but was too stubborn to change his game plan until it failed in-season. Freeman will find a high-level coordinator to fill Rees’ shoes.

Structure is in place

Why it matters

There was a philosophy change when Brian Kelly left and Freeman took over. It was pretty obvious to see. The idea was to build off his predecessor’s success but make it better. In my eyes he has, the recruiting has changed, the team improved as the season progressed, while players raved about their relationship with Freeman. It’s hard to think that whoever he brings in next will not have the same mindset due to have an infrastructure that is so sound.

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Story originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire